Marked Vowel Systems and Distinctive Palatalization

Abstract

While the term ‘palatalization’ is used in many different ways in the pertinent literature, this study is limited to consideration of those processes which convert plain obstruents to palatalized [c] = [ts] or [3] = [dz] as opposed to those processes which result in palatal consonants such as [č], [ǰ], [š], or [ž]. Its central claim is that the circumstances for such developments are to be found in the marked nature of the vowel systems of palatalizing languages and in the disruption of redundancy conditions with such markedness involves.